Honda Civic: Even Thieves Want High Gas Mileage...

If you've ever had a car stolen, you'll know how much it really, really sucks.

More than 700,000 Americans in the last year alone will know that feeling, as that's how many vehicles were recorded stolen in 2011 by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

The inconvenient truth for owners of Honda Accords and Honda Civics is that those two models are the most-stolen vehicles in the country, with 1994 Accords and 1998 Civics the most frequently stolen.

Still, with the Civic so high up, it's nice to know that even the low-life scumbags who take off in your car aren't using too much gas while they're doing so...

A 1998 Honda Civic 1.6 is rated at a respectable 30 mpg combined by the EPA, and 34 mpg highway. Okay, so car thieves are unlikely to be getting those figures, but every little helps, right?

The Civic actually tops the list of most-stolen cars in four states, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, and in all but one of those states it's the 2000-MY car that you're least likely to find on your driveway in the morning.

Of course, car thieves don't really care about gas mileage. Nor performance, looking at the number of staid sedans and trucks on the list. Really, they're looking for something that's easy to steal.

The moral of the story here is that whatever car you drive, lock it up and keep your keys safe; equip it with a visible or audible warning device to deter thieves; fit it with an immobilizing device; and if you really don't want your car going missing, fit a tracking device. You can find further advice via the NICB's "Hot Wheels" car thefts site.

Because, as we said at the start, having your car stolen really, really sucks.